29th/ 30th September 2013

BAHRAIN MEDIA ROUNDUP

Bahrain Jails 37 Shiites For Up To 15 Years
A Bahraini court in Manama jailed 37 Shiites for up to 15 years for carrying out terrorist crimes in the kingdom. Four people received a 15 year sentence. A further six were jailed for 10 years. Twenty seven other defendants received ve year terms according to AFP. The defendants were accused of detonating two roadside bombs in the village of Diraz. Four policemen were wounded in the incident. Bahrain is a Shiite majority country with Sunni rulers. An Arab spring inspired protest in 2011 was brutally put down by the regime. Since then, the country has seen clashes break out between protestors and the police on a regular basis. At least 89 people have been killed in these protests. Read More

Amnesty says jailing of Shiites in Bahrain 'appalling

Rights watchdog Amnesty International on Monday slammed as appalling a Bahrain court decision to jail 50 Shiite activists, and demanded a probe into allegations that some were tortured.

A Bahraini court handed jail terms of up to 15 years Sunday to the 50 activists, including a prominent Shiite Iraqi cleric, convicted of forming a clandestine opposition group. "It's appalling what passes for 'justice' today in Bahrain," said Amnesty International Middle East and North Africa director, Philip Luther. Read More activists said. Bahrain has seen almost daily protests by members of the Shiite majority since February 2011, when it crushed a Shiite-led uprising demanding that the Sunni al-Khalifa dynasty give up power. Bahrains Shiites have long complained of entrenched discrimination in areas such as employment and public services, allegations that the Sunni-led government denies. Read More

Bahrain jails 50 activists for up to 15 years

A Bahraini court on Sunday sentenced 50 protest activists, many of whom were denied access to a lawyer and gave confessions under torture, to lengthy jail terms on terrorism-related charges, a rights group said. Separately, two police ofcers who were jailed for torturing a protester to death in his prison cell in

2011 had their sentences reduced from 10 years to two. "This is the result when you have a court with a judge appointed by the king of Bahrain," Yousif alMuhafda, deputy-head of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), told Al-Akhbar. "The court is just a tool to suppress the opposition and human rights defenders, and to acquit those who torture and kill protesters." Read More

Bahrain jails 50 for ties to antigovernment group activists

A Bahraini court sentenced 50 people on Sunday to between ve and 15 years in jail for setting up a group that organises antigovernment protests, and that authorities say is working to topple the government by force,

Bahrain sentences 50 Shiites belonging to February 14 for terrorism

A Bahraini court on Sunday sentenced 50 Shiites to between ve and 15 years for ties to an opposition movement that authorities accuse of terrorism. Sixteen defendants received 15-year terms, while four were handed 10

years and another 30 sentenced to 5 years, according the Bahrain Youth Centre for Human Rights, one of whose board members, Naji Fateel, was jailed for 15 years. Twenty of the defendants, including 14 of the 16 handed terms of 15 years, were not in court as they were sentenced for their links with the Youth Coalition of the Revolution of February 14. Read More

Bahrain Dissidents Said to Get Prison Sentences

A court in Bahrain handed down sentences of between 5 and 15 years in jail for 50 people on Sunday whom the authorities accused of belonging to a protest movement seeking to overthrow the government, human rights activists said.

The Reuters news agency reported that ofcials were preparing an announcement about the courts action, but by late Sunday night none had been issued. The defendants in the case included a prominent human rights worker, political activists and several exiled opponents of the government, the activists said. Read More while four were jailed for 10 years and the other 30 for ve, the source said.

Bahrain jails 50 Shi'ites over politics

A Bahraini court has sentenced 50 Shi'ites to up to 15 years in jail, including a prominent Iraqi cleric, for forming a clandestine opposition group, a judicial source says. Sixteen defendants were handed 15-year terms,

while four others were jailed for 10 years and the other 30 sentenced to ve years behind bars, the source said. The defendants, including Iraqi cleric Hadi alMudaressi who was sentenced in absentia, were charged with forming the "February 14 Revolution Youth Coalition", which Bahraini authorities accuse of terrorism. Read More A group of Feb. 14 activists were sentenced to between ve and 15 years in jail, Yousif al-Muhafda of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights told Reuters. The center said there were human-rights campaigners among those convicted "under the internationally criticized and vague terrorism law" and that the sentences added up to more than 400 years. Read More Sixteen defendants were handed 15-year terms, while four others were jailed for 10 years and the other 30 sentenced to ve years, Agence France Presse reported the source as saying. Iraqi cleric Hadi alMudaressi was among the defendants charged for creating the movement that is accused by authorities of terrorism. Read More

Bahrain court slaps 50 individuals with jail terms over terrorism

A Bahraini court handed jail terms of up to 15 years Sunday to 50 Shiites, including a prominent Iraqi cleric, convicted of forming a clandestine opposition group, a judicial source said. Sixteen defendants were handed 15-year terms,

The defendants, including Iraqi cleric Hadi alMudaressi who was tried in absentia, were charged with forming the "February 14 Revolution Youth Coalition", which Bahraini authorities accuse of terrorism. The group has been the main driving force behind a Shiite-led uprising that began in 2011. Read More violence, with tension remaining high in the country between a government promising reform and thousands of people looking for greater political change. Fridays demonstration followed hours of scufes between police and protesters in the villages surrounding Manama. Read More

Bahrain said to sentence 50 antigovernment activists

A Bahrain court sentenced 50 people to prison Sunday after a mass trial for alleged links to a militant group blamed for bombings and other antigovernment attacks in the Gulf nation, a rights activist said.

Bahrain: Thousands on the streets

Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets on Friday to march through the streets of the capital, Manama, in support of an arrested politician. Khalil al-Marzooq is being held on suspicion of inciting

Bahraini court jails members of Revolution Youth Coalition

A Bahraini court sentenced on Sunday 50 people to up to 15 years in prison for forming the February 14 Revolution Youth Coalition, a judicial source said.

INSIGHT: Bahrain in Egypts Shadow

The popular movement to overthrow the Mubarak government in Egypt in 2011 served as motivation for a political uprising in Bahrain. Now, after two and a half years of political unrest and social polarization, another Egyptinspired campaign Bahrains Tamarod (Rebellion) has unwittingly facilitated the

expansion of security measures that threaten to curtail the activities of Bahrains main opposition movement, al-Wefaq, as well as those of the inuential Shia cleric Sheikh Isa Qassim. This new turn jeopardizes the political engagement needed to stem the distressing rise in crude bomb attacks, exacerbates an already bleak human rights landscape, and threatens to intensify the region-wide growth in sectarian conict. Read More

Resolve Bahrains political woes for economic progress

Recent reports on the state of Bahrains economy conrm the urgent need to overcome socio-economic and socio-political debacles. Over a span of weeks, Bahrains sovereign rating has experienced a downgrade by a major rating agency. Also, fresh warnings have been sounded over the scale of the public debt

amid an alarming budget decit. A key economic report has rated Bahrains economy as the least competitive within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). To begin with, Moodys downgraded Bahrains government issuer rating by one notch from Baa1 to Baa2. The agency has not ruled out further downgrades. Worse, Moodys continues to maintain a negative outlook towards Bahrains economy. Read More